The Chesapeake Bay Program, that multi-state/federal agency that monitors the health of the bay, just put out their annual forecast on the bay's overall state. As usual, things don't look good. But this year, the forecast was prescient; it predicted there was a "moderate to high" likelihood of algal blooms in the Potomac River. Sure enough, there was one on Monday, the day the forecast came out. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation hired a plane to fly over the river and check it out. In the process, they also reported blooms in several Virginia rivers, including the York and the Rappahannock. one of them was about 30 miles long. They sent me pictures which I will post if i get permission to do so, and can figure out how to do it!

I was out yesterday and saw a decent-sized bloom on the Choptank. I asked a couple of experts if we should be concerned. The answer is yes, though the blooms can go away as quickly as they come due to rain. But the underlying cause of the blooms is too much pollutions in the water. And if they continue, we will likely see more fish kills. The experts' consensus is this: we have got to find ways to reduce how much pollution we're putting in the water.